The University of the South Pacific Centre for Sustainable Futures co-organized with Fiji National University, on Tuesday, November 4th, a panel discussion with the theme “Leadership and Gender Equity for Sustainable Futures”, supported by the Pacific Islands Universities Regional Network (PIURN).
This discussion brought together academics and renowned experts of the region, highlighting their work and commitment to support women’s leadership in the Pacific.
The panelists were:
- Honorable Sashi Kiran; Fiji Minister for Women, Children, and Social Protection.
- Dr Eric Katovai; Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic at the Solomon Islands National University.
- Ceceilie Louis; Postgraduate Student from USP Centre for Sustainable Futures.
- Sala Tupou; Manager Programmes for the Pacific Woman Lead (PWL) Program at the Pacific Community (SPC)
- Dr Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen; Acting Deputy Vice-Chancellor & Vice-President Regional Campuses and Global Engagement at The University of the South Pacific (USP)
- The event was moderated by Professor Jimaima Lako, Pro-Vice Chancellor Academic at Fiji National University
The participants by sharing their personal and professional experience, emphasized the urgent need to support the development and empowerment of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent for the direct benefit of Pacific people and communities.
‘When we think specifically about global equality and leadership, it’s just not a matter of fairness; it is an absolute cornerstone for building a sustainable future for our Pacific people.’ – Dr Manumatavai Tupou-Roosen, reaffirmed during the evening.
Dr Eric Katovai called the Pacific Universities for action into embedding gender equality within the governance system, with dedicated policies.
Ms Ceceilie Louis, an emerging Pacific leader, reminded the audience that “[Leadership] is about who serves with purpose, who listens, and who uplifts others”.
Honorable Minister Sashi Kiran warmly thanked FNU, USP, and their partners for their work on gender barriers leadership, and assured her commitment to supporting women’s leadership not only in universities, but also in workplaces, and within the communities.
This panel discussion was embedded in the first regional workshop of the project “Barriers to Female Leadership for Staff at Selected Pacific Islands Universities, with an emphasis on STEM”, developed within PIURN For two days, the research team gathered at USP to discuss about the data collected and the preliminary results. This workshop supported also the comparative analysis across the four institutions.
This study is led by USP with Associate Professor Gilianne Brodie as the lead researcher, in partnership with Fiji National University (FNU), National University of Samoa (NUS), Solomon Islands National University (SINU), and Western Sydney University (WSU) in collaboration with Science in Australia Gender Equity (SAGE) Ltd. It is funded by the PWL Program at the Pacific Community (SPC) with the support of the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
